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Wacky Packages - Still Illegal After All These Years

Morton Salt forces eBay to ban sale of vintage children's collectible

By Gregory Grant
May 7th, 2003

If you are mid to late 30's then you probably remember Wacky Packages.
Wacky Packages are stickers (peel and punch-out) that were released by the
Topps Chewing Gum company and their Canadian partner OPC between 1967 and
1992.  They parodied common household products and were extremely popular
among children in the 1970's, particularly in 1973 when they were an
absolute phenomena.  Kids loved them because they were fantastically
rebellious for the times, and they were painted by renowned artist Norman
Saunders who had a way of painting characters that was massively appealing
to children.  Saunders had decades of experience, a wry sense of humor,
and a passion for the project, and he's a large part of why they were so
successful.
  Wacky were more than a fad, since they raged for at least two years, and
stuck around for several more, and then evolved into other products (such
as Garbage Pail Kids).  In 1974 approaching the one year anniversary of
the release of the "1st series", the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote that
sales were "being blown all out of proportion to common sense," that there
were "millions of little ones harassing store clerks from coast to coast"
and that "Predictably, no one knows why. Least of all the Topps Chewing
Gum Inc" (published 2-27-74).  The New York Times wrote "It's a
pre-teen-agers paradise these days at just about every candy store in
town.  At lunchtime and after school youngsters pile in ... to snap up its
sixth series of Wacky Packages, those phenomenally popular put-downs on
advertising" (published 3-4-74). Wackys eventually spawned Garbage Pail
Kids, the sticker phenom of the 80's.  In the late 90's the kids of the
early 70's were reaching their mid-30's, and together with the rise of the
internet Wacky Packages saw a renewal of popularity that was nearly as
stunning as the original phenomena in 1973.  Nothing seemed to evoke
intense nostalgia like Wacky Packages did to the right age group.  Soon
collectors became ravenous for any and every kind of wacky pack item that
managed to survive.  Nobody could believe many of the stickers could have
survived those 25 years, but Topps printed so many that indeed they are
still possible to find.  When people find them on the web for the first
time they are invariably overcome by nostalgia and amazement that there is
such a life in the hobby now 30 years later.
  Wacky Packages were in fact truly getting under the skin of companies,
because many of them being parodied filed cease and desist letters.  This
lead to Topps pulling some titles during production, in fact some were
pulled so early on that they are extremely rare.  High grade versions of
"Ratz Crackers" or "Cracked Animals" have sold for over $5,000 repeatedly.
Collectors have become ravenous for anything and everything they can find
from the early 70's series.  As hard as it is for stickers to have
survived, so have a handful of unopened boxes, uncut sheets, wrappers,
even original order forms and proof sheets.  And the holy grails of the
hobby are the original art works themselves, beautifully hand painted in
gouache and painted in fine detail, just five by seven inches each.  The
battles for these prizes have often been epic, involving some 
powerful players and subterfuge of a stunning level, and regular five
digit price tags on the better titles.  Still some 200 pieces are missing,
a fortune's worth of unfound treasures waiting to be turned up.
  But there is another kind of strife in the hobby now, something that
returns the hobby wonderfully to its rebellious roots.  Back in the day
many corporations filed C&D letters disallowing their products to be
parodied (while, ironically, others would send their products to Topps
asking to be parodied as soon as possible!), but to everybody's disbelief,
in the year 2003, 35 years later, eBay has started shutting down auctions
for the wacky package "Moron Salt" which parodies "Morton Salt."  This
title came out in 1967 and was pulled about half way through the run
because Morton Salt filed a C&D.  Most wackys change hands these days on
eBay, there are some 500 auctions at any given time, but now you cannot
sell "Moron Salt" and soon maybe others.  Who could believe it but they
have actually forced eBay to ban auctions of a 35 year old children's
trading card.  Ebay's explanation is as follows: "a member of our Verified
Rights Owner (VeRO) Program [Morton Salt Division of Morton International,
Inc.] notified us, under penalty of perjury, that your item infringes
their copyright, trademark, or other rights."  And they followed up with
the threat "If you relist this or any other similar items on eBay, your
account could be suspended."  Of course the wacky packages collectors
think this is fabulous, they would thank Morton Salt directly if they
could, because that is what wacky packages were all about, it's nice to
know it still gets under their skin 35 years later, that makes collecting
them even more like it was in 1973 (just adding a few zeros to the
prices).